Research Interests

Dr Kopko’s research interests center around transfusion reactions, particularly Transfusion-Related Acute Lung Injury (TRALI). TRALI is currently the leading cause of transfusion-related mortality in the United States. The presence of HLA antibodies in donated blood components is an important cause of TRALI. Dr. Kopko is interested in making the blood supply safer by reducing the risk of TRALI from donated blood. She is also interested in the mechanism of action of how HLA antibodies and other factors cause this reaction in transfused patients.

Biography

Dr. Kopko received a BA in Chemistry from Brandeis University in 1986. She received an MD from Loma Linda University, where she also completed a post-sophomore year in pathology, in 1991. She remained at Loma Linda University Medical Center for a residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology. She completed a Transfusion Medicine Fellowship at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles in 1996. She was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of California, Los Angeles from 1996 to 1997. In 1997 she became Associate Medical Director of BloodSource, a regional not for profit blood center located in Sacramento California. While at BloodSource she completed training to become a Histocompatibility Laboratory Director. She became Chief Medical Officer/Executive Vice President of Medical Affairs of BloodSource in 2004. She became Director of the BloodSource Histocompatibility Laboratory in 2006. During her time in Sacramento, she was an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Medical Pathology at the University of California, Davis. She became Associate Director of the Transfusion Medicine and Immunogetics and Transplantation Laboratories at UCSD in 2011.